To want schools to drop attendance incentives?

[Sophie632]

So my son has a medical condition and has to attend hospitals appointments - sometimes not locally. Our school give out certificates for 100% attendance and he rarely gets these. There is now talk of starting a scheme where the whole class is rewarded each day everyone is in. I don’t think this is fair to children who have disabilities or medical conditions that may make them need to miss school, totally outside of their control. Also - should we really reward children purely because they don’t catch any nasty bugs? Hardly seems fair!

Complain to your MP - this is discrimination under the grounds of disability.

This shit needs to die off honestly - it just further rewards children who are fortunate enough as it is to have good health and a stable home life.

Anyone defending these awards need to have a word with themselves, anyone’s child can end up with a disability, it’s just luck that your hasn’t.

Why don't they just change the definition of "100% attendance" to "0% unauthorised absence"? Authorised absences shouldn't count against attendance as they could be for all sorts of perfectly legitimate things. It's truancy, term-time breaks, and lazy parenting that should be punished.

At the school where I work we don't do whole school attendance awards because it encourages children to attend when they're ill which is miserable for the child and then increases absence rates for the rest of the class when they catch it. Plus it isn't fair on children who are disabled/have medical conditions/have an accident/other circumstances, and above all else we want our school to be an inclusive school.

Instead we work with individual families where a child's attendance has dipped, looking at ways we can help support them back into school and to remain in school. Where its a child who is refusing to come into school then we might look at a reward system on an individual basis if that's something they're likely to respond to.

We mostly encourage children to want to come to school by encouraging a nurturing environment where they're valued and where they're rewarded for persevering and doing whatever their individual best is rather than meaningless awards for presentee-ism.

At our last Ofsted our attendance rate was noted to be "exceptional" and that "children are keen to be in school and eager to attend".

I think the new scheme is very harmful.

It's not just children with medical issues, it's also children with chaotic backgrounds who's parents just don't care about education.

Imagine being blamed for letting down the class 🙁 it actually saddens me to think some children will bare that burden.

Absolutely I would complain about it.

DDs school have just removed attendance as a part of the class golden ticket reward and instead points for good behaviour and taken off for bad behaviour and lates which is much better.

at a tutor consult I was asked why her attendance was 90% and I pointed out it was covid which requires 3 days after the test day and took 2 days for a positive. It was only as good as it was as one day was the funeral (covid hit her hard)

in these times of flu/covid/norovirus/strep it promotes going in at all costs and therefore taking everyone down with her.

I agree with you about the whole-class reward, but apart from that I would just leave it. For some kids it’s really important that parents are encouraged to take them in even if they have a cold or a tummy ache. So I’d just explain to your son that in school there are rules and systems and they don’t always suit everyone.

'Congratulations for being lucky!' is a fucking weird message to give kids.

YABU as not everyone can win everything for a variety of reasons. Some will win awards for the highest marks, not everyone is capable of achieving that. I think it teaches kids lessons, obviously not nice for things beyond your control but intelligence is too and rewards are dished out for that.

This seems a much more rational approach.

While I agree that 100% is out of the question for children with medical issues etc , I actually have no problem with a child being given a certificate for good attendance .My DC was not very academic at school, neither were they sporty or good at arts etc. Them receiving a recognition for attendance was actually the only award they ever received. It was only a certificate and a badge, nothing more exciting. It could be said that some less academic children are being penalised because they are not capable of passing exams , we don't stop giving out rewards to bright children who are fortunate enough to be clever,or giving out sporting colours to athletic students.

It isn't school policy, its government policy.

We reward our children for academics but we also reward determination, hard work, and effort. Recent reasons for Star of the Week include being a good friend for taking an injured classmate to first aid, facing your fears for a child who let a tarantula sit on their head during an animal encounters visit, and community spirit for a child who decided to litter pick in the park.

@BiggerBoat1 good health is an unearned reward in itself. Bad health is the opposit e.

to me, giving a "reward" for good health, if taken to its logical conclusion, perpetuates disability discrimination. It perpetuates the idea that good health deserves a reward and to be applauded whereas bad health is to be ...? What? Despised? Disliked?

I speak as a parent whose child many years ago, got multiple good attendance awards , and who at the latter ones, refused to accept them.

she recognised that she had in no way earned them, she was just lucky with her good health.

We used to give a prize to the class with the highest attendance for a week but they would always be in the 90’s as no class ever reached 100% attendance for the whole week, ever.

Do these incentives actually even make a difference? Genuinely interested to know, can any teachers shed any light?

My child currently has 100% attendance this academic year, purely because we’re lucky that she’s generally healthy and hasn’t so far happened to catch anything. If she does get ill, I’ll keep her home, I’m not remotely bothered about what affect that has on her attendance, or that it will affect her chances of getting a certificate (and if I was bothered, and sent her in anyway- that would obviously not be a good thing!)

In those cases where children have to be off for illnesses, hospital appointments etc- clearly that can’t be helped, so this scheme won’t have any impact there either.

So we’re left with the kids that are having time off because- they don’t want to go to school, or they have parents that have a lower bar for when to send them in and might keep them off for something ‘minor’, or their home life is more chaotic and they don’t get in some days. Seriously- are these incentives making a difference in any of these cases either? Really would be keen to know if they act to motivate anyone other than those who actually SHOULD be keeping their kids off, when they’re genuinely ill!

It's just one thing to be rewarded for. And for some kids it's the only reward they'll get. Yabu.

DfE guidance. Has to be implemented by September 2023.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance

Inclusive practice should however take account of needs. Targets can be personalised for each class/child if it is necessary to increase attendance.

Schools, once again are under awful pressure. LA’s have been starved of funding, so attendance support teams have mainly gone. Attendance at school has dropped significantly since COVID, creating educational and safeguarding issues and it is now left to schools again, to sort this out.
Schools are pressurised from above - DfE and Ofsted - and from parents too. A no win situation.
I have read some of the awful emails parents have sent back to her teachers, who are only doing their job.

Not really but schools are under such tremendous pressure they’ll try most things.

I think promoting good and rewarded attendance at school follows to help firm good attendance and accountability in employment so it has to remain but obviously your son is not to feel penalised, maybe think of ways to incorporate those in the home when he's had a really good term attendance wise?

My child has severe anxiety amongst other things,the school insists on the 48 hour rule being followed after every incident!
Then threaten with the welfare officer for bad attendance!
My child is never going to get a certificate 🤣

It's the letters that bug me. Arsey letter for ds because his attendance was poor. He's reception year and has caught everything imaginable. Worded as if I was choosing to keep him home.
Then letters full of praise for older ds and dd for their great attendance.
Waste of paper. I know their attendance % as it's in massive figures on the ridiculous app I have to have installed from the school.

Totally agree OP. Since covid you think presenteeism would have changed but no.

If anything Covid has had the opposite effect attendance wise as it’s left a lot of parents feeling school is optional

But, as an employer, if I penalised staff who missed work through genuine illness in the way that schools do I would (quite rightly) be hauled over the coals. It's appalling that our children's rights and dignity aren't as protected as adult employees.

Government policies don't mandate this. More importantly, the it is unlawful as a direct breach of the Equality Act.